Broken
by Ryoken
Summary: Yusuke and the gang get another case. Keiko is having nightmares. What can this mean? How about a mysterious demon and a strange child? Update: The gang finds themselves in a whole new ballpark...
1. Scarier things have happened

Disclaimer: I don't own the Yu Yu Hakusho characters. I've no idea if anyone has ever written something like this in the Yu Yu Hakusho section or any other section. I CAN'T READ EVERY SINGLE FIC IN FANFICTION.NET, OK?!?!?! *goes running off ranting*

Kurama: Just give her some time, I'm sure she'll be fine...

(P.S.- If you don't know what a kris is, it's a wavey-shaped dagger.)

Broken

By Ryoken

It was a long and dark hallway. She didn't even know where she was, she didn't recognize the place. Keiko kept walking down the narrow pathway and noticed that the walls were made of stone, as though she was in an underground tunnel. It wasn't lighted at all, save for a candle here or there, and the place had the stench of something decomposing. 

She turned a corner after what seemed like a mile and saw hundreds of candles burning in a room ahead of her. There were candles on the ground too that lead to the room like runway lights on an airstrip. Keiko hurried on into the room, but before she got there, she heard the voice of a small child.

"Mommy, what are all of these people doing here?" It was the voice of a little girl, and it came from the lighted room. Keiko reached the room and was horrified. All over there were skulls and bones, hundreds of them, painstakingly arranged in an artistic fashion, and had it been done with some material other than human bones, it would have been quite extraordinary. People in black-hooded robes lined the room like the candles did in the hall, and at the end of the row of people was another black-hooded person and the little girl. 

Keiko couldn't see her face, for she was looking at her back, but the child looked to be no older than four. She had dirty blonde hair that shone in the candle light and was wearing a dress typical of the 17 or 18 hundreds in Europe. Keiko figured the person beside the little girl was her mother, seeing as she looked up to her.

The mother spoke nary a word (how often do you get to use something like that?!) as she picked up the child and placed her on what Keiko could now see was an altar. There were no skulls or bones on it. As though the child knew what to do, she lied down horizontally on the altar, folded her hands across her stomach, and closed her eyes. Suddenly, the people in the room got down on their knees and began to chant something unintelligible. A man walked through Keiko, as though she didn't exist, surprising her. He too, wore a black-hooded cloak, only the hood didn't cover his face. He was bald, except for a ponytail in the back and half of his face was covered in tattooed runes. He walked up to the altar, nodded to the mother, and the mother walked out, calmly. Then the people bowed their heads as soon as she left. 

The man opened a book that had been blocked from view where the mother had once stood. He then took up a kris and waved it slowly over the little girl back and forth. 

A dreadful thought came to Keiko's mind. He was going to kill the poor little girl! She just knew it! If this was a dream, Keiko thought, she wanted to wake up immediately. She didn't want to see this poor child be so brutally murdered for what looked like some sort of black ritual. But Keiko couldn't force herself to look away. Something desired her full attention.

The man suddenly took a skillful swipe at the little girl, and only a small amount of blood stained the kris. Keiko took a non-desired look towards the head of the girl, where he had slashed at her, only to see that the girl had a slight cut on her forehead. 

The man took a vial in his right hand and scooped up some of the blood from her forehead. Keiko couldn't see what the man was doing now. The people kept chanting, still inaudible as to what they were saying.

Suddenly, Keiko could hear shouts coming from the hall. People screamed horribly and she could hear the thumping of boots running in the halls. She could also hear the clanking of metal, such as chain mail armor would. No one moved from their posts as the clanking and screaming got louder. 

Keiko heard a muffled sound from behind her and saw the mother struggling to make her way into the room. She was deathly injured, Keiko could see. The mother tried to speak something, but the word she spoke died as soon as it left her lips, along with the rest of her. Keiko turned around to the man and the child only to see that she missed something for the people began to chant louder, and even though she could hear what they said, she had no idea what it meant. It was as though they spoke in another language. She looked to see that the man was now raising the kris above the girl's body. He spoke more of what seemed to be the same language, and then flung the blade into the heart of the girl, instantly killing her. 

The man turned around, and the people stood up, to see people with spears and swords and all sorts of weapons rushing down the hall. But before they got even close to the room, the candles on the runway-like path began to go out, two by two, in pairs. Everything was deathly quiet. Not even the metal clanging of the armor sounded. This kept up until all of the candles leading to the doorway went out. Next, the candles in the room went out at the same time. Keiko could now see nothing. Then the sound of what seemed like stabbing and people dying came, and it lasted for what felt like a half an hour to her. 

She woke up screaming.

It took Keiko's mother half an hour to calm her down, but even then, she couldn't get out of her what was wrong. It was only until her mother called Yusuke over, at three in the morning no less, that Keiko even spoke a word. 

When Yusuke arrived, Keiko was shaking like mad, clutching her arms, not moving an inch from where she sat in her bed. 

_Now probably isn't the best time for lame jokes,_ he thought as her mother explained to him what happened.

"Hey, Keiko, you ok?" He said, not sure of how to start. She looked up at him with a fear in her eyes that surpassed the time when she was being chased down by the townsfolk controlled by the Makai insects. "What's wrong?" He asked in a softer tone, trying to calmer her down.

She immediately went into hysterics and the nightmare was explained.

"Hey, it's ok, Keiko, it was just a bad dream probably caused by something you ate," Yusuke laughed. She didn't think it was very nice of him to laugh at her. It seemed so real...Then again, maybe it was a just a dream after all. 

"Thanks again for coming over so late, Yusuke. I don't think I'd be able to get the story out of her for sometime," her mother said.

"Don't mention it," Yusuke yawned.

"You might as well stay here for the night. It's late."

"Er, okay I guess..."

The night had no further incidences as they all slept peacefully.

Koenma sighed. Great. Just great, he thought. ANOTHER case. "Well, I'd better get Botan to send the message along to Yusuke," he thought out loud.

"Send what along, Koenma?" Botan said as she came in suddenly.

"Ah good, now I don't have to send for you. I need you to tell Yusuke to gather up the others and to come to Genkai's temple. I'm afraid it's another case, only it's urgent that he get there as soon as possible, as well as the others. And please, Botan," he said, trying to relax in his chair as she began to leave. "No detours this time." Botan laughed weakly and left. "Bah, I guess I'd better get going as well. This isn't going to be easy..."

Yusuke decided that maybe he'd better to go to school the next day, seeing as Keiko was still in that mood she was in last night. She only spoke to say hi in response to passing schoolmates and she stared at the ground expressionless constantly. Even Yusuke's tauntings weren't affecting her. 

"Cheer up, Keiko, it was just a bad dream!" Yusuke said during their break period on the roof. She said nothing. That is until Botan crash landed on Yusuke's head.

"A-Are you two ok?" Keiko laughed.

"Yes, I'm all right," Botan said, standing up off of Yusuke's back.

"Yeah, I think so. Botan, why are you here?"

"Message from Koenma, another case I'm afraid."

"Aww COME ON!!! I just finished healing my injuries from the last fight!" Yusuke yelled towards the sky. He sighed heavily. "So what is it this time? Some pack of beasts from the Spirit World attacking the river of Styx?"

"Actually, I have no idea," Botan said, ignoring Yusuke's earlier comment. "He never told me. Just to assemble you four at Genkai's temple."

"Well that's a surprise," Yusuke said.

"I'll tell Kurama, I'm sure he'll be able to find Hiei, but could you tell Kuwabara for me? Would save me a lot of trouble," Botan asked.

"Sure. Did he say when?"

"ASAP."

"Oh ok then, see you in two weeks, Botan."

"YUSUKE!!!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!! Sheesh," Yusuke said, waving her off. He opened the door to the roof and then turned to Keiko. "You gonna be ok?"

"Yeah!" She said quickly. Then he left to find the idiot. Botan turned on her.

"What was that about?" Botan asked slyly.

"Nothing," Keiko responded.

"You can tell me!"

"I just had a bad dream last night, that's all."

"Oh I see. Well, I've got to catch Kurama. I'll see you later," she said, and zoomed off on her oar. 

It was getting late when the four Spirit Detectives arrived at Genkai's temple.

"Ok, so why are we here, Koenma?" Yusuke said with a hint of annoyance.

"Didn't Botan tell you? There's another case for you," he said, walking in the room. He looked perplexed.

"So we've heard. But she didn't give us any details," Kurama said.

"Well, this isn't going to be easy for me to explain, considering the lack of information we have..."

"Just tell us what you know."

"Fine. In the late seventeen to early eighteen hundreds, a demon was reportedly summoned from the darkest depths of Spirit World. The record keeping in those days was awful and quite hectic, so there wasn't very much information as to what or who this demon was. I do know is that she is extremely powerful and tricky. No one really knows what happened to that demon since, she seems to have slipped from any records we might have of her. But now we've had a several reports come in that say people have been seeing black hooded people walking the streets all over the globe. I suspect that these hooded people are responsible for summoning that demon the last time. There's no doubt in my mind that they're about to summon her again, and soon. What I need you four to do is find out where this summon is going to take place and stop it. Who knows what'll happen if she is unleashed in the Human World..." he said. The little prince really had way too much stress on his hands.

"Ok, so lemme get this straight. About two hundred years ago, some powerful demon was summoned from Spirit World to the Human World, she disappeared, then two hundred years later, some guys with black capes show up, and you think that they're going to try to summon her again?" Kuwabara asked.

"That's about it, yes," Koenma said.

"I don't get it."

"Of course you don't, idiot," Hiei said, the first words spoken to anyone all day. "Now how are we supposed to find out where this place is going to be?"

"If you can find someone in a black cloak with a hood over their head, I'm sure you'll be able to pry an answer out of them," Koenma said. He turned to leave.

"Hey wait a second!! What else can you tell us about this demon?! We're kinda in the dark about her powers here!" Yusuke yelled. 

"I don't have any information about her at all, Yusuke, otherwise I'd tell you what I know," he replied.

"Nothing?" Yusuke said weakly.

"Nope."

"Greaaaaaaaat..."

"Just please, be careful. I heard that they might use some sort of powerful forbidden black magic," Koenma said.

"Heh, nothing we can't handle!" Kuwabara said idiotically.

"I'm sure." And with that, Koenma left.

Oh boy, that was fun now, wasn't it?

Hiei: Not really.

Oh hush! That's cause you only said three lines! Ok, next chappie may or may not be very exciting, so be forewarned.


	2. Help is on the way

Again, thank you to the person who corrected me, I can't believe I wrote that and didn't know it...Well, that's what you get for not rereading what you write! Anyway, here's chapter two!

Hiei: Gee you make it sound so interesting...

Shut up, you!

Disclaimer:

Hiei: She doesn't own us, thank the gods. She just tortures us to the brink of death...

Liar! Liarliarliar! I do not! No more disclaimers for you!

Hiei: Oh gee, what ever will I do?

Get outta here, you...! *chases him outta the room*

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Broken

By Ryoken

"Ok, so what are we looking for again?" Yusuke said lazily. The group had split up into pairs, Yusuke with Hiei and Kuwabara with Kurama. Yusuke had somehow talked Hiei into staying at a restaurant's window seat to look for the people they were looking for.

"People walking around in black cloaks, how stupid are you, Yusuke?" Hiei said, annoyed. He didn't want to be on this case as much as Yusuke did, but he would have at least have liked to be moving around.

"Shut up, Hiei." Yusuke took another gulp of his soda. "Bah, this is so boring!" He whined.

"Then why did we come in here in the first place?" Hiei asked, trying not to cause people to stare. 

"I don't know."

"Urameshi, you are such an idiot." Yusuke was about to reach over and punch the little fire demon when something caught his eye.

"Hey, is that one of the people we're looking for?" He said, pointing at a person hurriedly walking through the crowds on the other side of the street.

"Yes, you baka, now come on." Hiei was right outside of the window just as Yusuke got up from the booth. Both of them using their incredible speed, they crossed the street, caught the cloaked person by each arm, and ran into a dark alley. There, they let him go as he flew into a garbage pail. This all happened in under twenty seconds. 

"Ok Mr., what's your name?" Yusuke said darkly.

"H-Huh? W-Who are you?! What do you want?!" He said nervously.

"Answer the question!" Hiei threatened with a death glare.

"Joe. Joe Makintaro."

"Well, Mr. Makintaro, I'd say this is your lucky day, but I don't like to lie."

"W-What do you want?!?" He sounded more and more nervous.

"Why are you walking around with a black cloak on?" Hiei said.

"Hey, I-I got the right-"

"Lemme repeat what he said. Tell us why you're walking around with a black cloak on before we have to beat you within an inch of your life," Yusuke said.

"Okayokayokay! Just don't hurt me, please!"

_Well that was easy,_ Yusuke thought.

"I wearing this because...because...I'm part of a secret society," he said, whispering and calming down tremendously with the last part of his sentence.

"What secret society?" Yusuke asked.

"One of the most ancient of societies. And one of the most powerful. You'd better let me go or I'll curse you!" He threatened, but his voice was beginning to crack.

"I seriously doubt you're that powerful," Yusuke said as he summoned up a bullet for his Spirit Gun that was so powerful that it would be visible to any human with no enhanced powers to see the supernatural. "Or at least not nearly as powerful as we are, so I suggest you start giving us a lot more details about all this." By this time, the little man was so frightened he was ready to speedily answer every question they threw at him. 

"Now, what is this secret society?!"

"It's a society to ultimately summon a demon from Spirit World!"

"What demon?"

"I don't know her name, they didn't tell me, but she's supposed to be powerful enough to wipe out the entire human population!"

"I thought she was already summoned. Why are they trying to summon her again?"

"I don't know, they didn't tell me! Really, I swear! They caught me in an alley and forced me to join them, they didn't tell me much, just to recruit more members, as many as possible!"

"Where are they going to summon her?"

"Someplace in Europe! That's all I know, I swear!"

"Where is this society now? Where can we find them?"

"I don't know, they blindfold me when they want to perform a ritual somewhere so I have no idea where they take me!" 

Suddenly, a shot like a laser pierced the man through the heart, killing him instantly. Hiei and Yusuke looked up to see another person garbed in the black clothing standing on the escape stairs of the building.

"Hmph, useless," she said and disappeared before the two detectives could ask her anything.

"Well, that was weird. Too bad we couldn't get any real details outta him," Yusuke said.

"Yes yes, very unfortunate. Come on, I'm sure there are plenty more scumbags where he came, and I'm sure that lady knows more than he did," Hiei said hurriedly. He wanted to get his legs moving, he hated standing still for so long.

"Shouldn't we go tell the others?" Yusuke asked.

"We can tell them when we meet up with them again, now come on!" Yusuke shrugged and nodded, then briskly followed the demon across the city, being more successful than when they just sat around.

"Well, what were you two able to come up with?" Kurama asked as they sat around the table at the cafe. 

"All we were able to find out is that they're some sort of society that uses black magic that's even too evil for the usual black magic practitioners to use, they're trying to summon the same demon girl, and that the ritual is gonna take place in Europe. How about you guys?" Yusuke said. 

"Just about the same, only that it's gonna be soon," Kuwabara said.

"We met up with some really powerful chick that killed the first guy we met and anyone else who gave anyway any new information. She shot him with some sort of laser or something," Yusuke added.

"Really? That's interesting. The same thing happened to us as well. Perhaps we should be searching for her instead of the stragglers," Kurama suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." The four left, being as it was getting dark and it would be more difficult to find the society people, to continue their search in the morning.

~*~*~*

"I was hoping that they wouldn't be interfering with our plans. But it seems that that was inevitable," the girl from the alley said.

"Yes, indeed. Let us hope none of the other little members leak out anymore information. T'would be best if we begin the Move," said another person, this time an older male.

"Of course. Should I make some sort of preparation if they find us out somehow?" The girl asked.

"Hmm...No. I doubt if they will be able to find anymore of us here once we begin the Move. You may go," he said. She bowed as she left her master. He leaned back in his chair in thought. "Yusuke Urameshi, the new demon lord of one third of the makai...I wonder how he would fair against our fair lady of the darkness..."

~*~*~*

Keiko woke up drenched in sweat. She had experienced the exact same nightmare as last night, and it seemed all the more real. Everything that had happened the first night, had happened again. Why did this dream keep coming to her? 

She tried to relax, to go back to sleep, but she kept thinking about the dream. Who was that little girl, and why was she killed at such a young age? What happened during the time the light from the candles went out? Were those people coming down the steps killed? There were so many questions she didn't know the answer to and the list kept growing. Finally, Keiko had drifted back in sleep, still thinking of questions she wanted answered.

"Hey Keiko," Yusuke said as he spotted her rounding the corner and caught up to her. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"I had the exact same dream again, Yusuke. What could it mean?" She said worriedly.

"Don't worry about it so much, Keiko, it probably doesn't mean anything."

"But it was exactly the same, nothing changed."

"What didn't change?" Came a familiar voice. Kurama stood beside Yusuke.

"How the heck did you get here?! I thought you were supposed to go to school on the other side of Tokyo!!" Yusuke cried.

"I do not go to school on the other side of Tokyo, Yusuke. My school isn't all that far from yours, if you remember. I thought I'd see if you'd given any thought about yesterday. But what were you two talking about?"

"She just had the same nightmare two nights in a row, that's all." Yusuke said.

"Oh? Why don't you tell me about it," Kurama started to say, when the bell of the school rang throughout the streets "when school gets out. See you later!" He said, running off towards his school, the usual girls flocking after him.

"Heh, that's Kurama for you," Yusuke though out loud. But Keiko couldn't wait until then. Perhaps Kurama would understand this better than Yusuke did.

Ok, I hope that'll settle your hunger for this ficcy for now.

Kurama: Erm, I'm not so sure you should phrase it like that...

Bah, I don't give a care these days! _


	3. The little girl with no name

Thank you for your encouraging reviews, people! Oh look, it's disclaimer time...

Kurama: Ryoken doesn't own the rights to Yu Yu Hakusho. She doesn't own us either. 

Straight and to the point without inserted discouraging comments, thank you, Kurama!

Kurama: Can I go now?

Nope, you're in this story 'member?

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Broken

By Ryoken

It was 12:30. Keiko wished the damn clock would go faster, she was getting anxious. After what seemed an eternity, the last bell rang and she ran out to the sidewalk, hoping Kurama would already be there. Strangely enough, he was just rounding the corner, the gaggle of girls following right behind, as always.

"Hello, Keiko, Yusuke." Unbeknownst to her, Yusuke was about to sneak up on Keiko to give her a scare, thinking it might bring her around.

"Damn it, Kurama, you gave me away!!" He teased.

"You can tell me as we're walking if you don't mind the gawking girls following me, or perhaps we can go to Yusuke's place?"

"Sure," she said. Their conversation as they walked turned to normal everyday things, school, complaining about Yusuke's uniform, homework, etc., but suddenly, Yusuke got the feeling he was being watched by some unknown presence. He looked lazily around himself to try and figure out who was watching them and his eyes rested on a little girl that stood out from the other people walking around. She wore a fancy dress that just didn't look like the typical children's dress and it made her easy to spot. She also wore a sunhat that covered her face in shadows. She wasn't walking, but she seemed to be looking straight at them as they went. Yusuke stopped only for a moment when an idea, a silly and yet stupid idea, came to his head. He continued to walk in silence until they reached the safety of Yusuke's home where the swooning girls couldn't follow them anymore. As soon as Yusuke entered the doorway, the feeling of being watched was gone.

"Yusuke, is everything all right? You've been unusually quiet," Kurama asked as soon as Keiko finished her story. 

"Uh, Keiko, what...what was that little girl wearing again?" He asked.

"Some sort of fancy little dress from the early 1800s, I think. Why?"

"Cause I think I just saw a ghost...or something..." He said, a little nervous.

"What do you mean, 'saw a ghost'?" Kurama asked with intrigue.

"When we were walking here...I think...I think I saw her...She was wearing a fancy dress that really looked outta place. I couldn't see her face because she was wearing a sunhat, couldn't see her hair either."

"You're not serious, are you, Yusuke?" Keiko asked, knowing that this could just have been another typical Yusuke-prank.

"No, he's serious. I can tell by just looking at his face," Kurama said. "Where did you see her, Yusuke?"

"Over by Third Street. She was just standing there, watching us..."

"I may be sounding a bit ridiculous, but maybe she's still there. We've got to try," Kurama said, standing up.

"Right. You don't have to come if you want to, Keiko," Yusuke said, seeing Keiko get up.

"No, I want to come. I want to know why I've been dreaming about her...her," she said. Yusuke nodded and the three hurried out the door only to run into Kuwabara as soon as the door was flung open. 

"Hey guys! You really should try to take a different way to get here, Kurama, I had to really fight my way in. Speakin of which, you haven't been walking by the preschool or anything, have you cause there's this little weird girl out there with those girls, just standing-hey where you goin?!" He said as they brushed passed him without a word. "Grrrr, I hate it when you guys don't tell me anything!!" And he briskly followed them.

"Perhaps it would have been better if I hadn't come along," Kurama said as they reached the ground floor exit doors of the apartment complex. 

"Actually maybe you can distract them away from where Kuwabara said she was," Yusuke said. Kurama nodded and, easily diverting their attention with a mere wave of his hand, ran towards a different exit. 

Just as Kuwabara had said, there was a little girl standing on the sidewalk, just facing the double glass doors. They still couldn't see her face since the sun was behind her and making a shadow over her face. 

"That's her, that's the same girl I saw. What...do you think Keiko? Keiko?" Yusuke said, noticing that Keiko had left his side and began to walk towards the little girl. By this time, Kuwabara had joined Yusuke and started to whisper questions.

She knelt down to her and tried to smile as gently as possible. "Hey, little girl, what are you doing here?"

The little girl lifted her face to Keiko's, who was still above her eye level, and a look of genuine surprise covered her face. The girl had the same blonde hair as Keiko had seen and she had eyes that looked almost gray. She didn't say a word to Keiko, only stared surprised at her.

"Is something wrong? Are you lost?" She tried again. This time the little girl looked away from her and pulled the sunhat over her face. "Oh, hey, it's ok. I want to help you." Keiko tried to pull the sunhat off of her face, but the little girl kept a strong hold on it. By this time Kurama rejoined them and the little girl started to shiver.

"Awww, are you scared? It's ok, I just want to help you," Keiko said, trying to sound cheerful. The girl pulled the hat back from her face and onto the back of her head, keeping her hands on the brim. The surprised look was still there. 

"Come with me, we'll help you." Keiko held out a hand. The little girl shook her head violently. 

"You don't trust us, do you?" She didn't answer. "Then at least trust me." Keiko smiled and continued to hold out her hand to her. The little girl looked beyond Keiko at the three boys. Hesitantly, she took hold of her hand. Keiko stood up.

"Don't worry, they won't hurt you," she said as she noticed that when they walked past the boys, she took hold of Keiko's hand with both of her own and more firmly as she watched them closely. 

"That is one weird kid. Why are we paying attention to her again?" Kuwabara asked as once Keiko and the child were going up in the elevator they too began to go back to Yusuke's apartment.

"Keiko says that the girl is the little girl she's been dreaming about lately," Kurama explained. "It also seems that this dream could be a lead in our current case."

"Ohh...If I'd known that-"

"You probably wouldn't have recognized her and have gone about your business," came a voice from behind them. It was Hiei.

"Shut up, Shorty!"

"Really, that line is getting old. Anyway, I was scouting the area for anymore of those cultists, but they seem to have gone off somewhere or are in hiding."

"What I wanna know is why that kid is here, I mean, she died in Keiko's dream right? So shouldn't she be in Spirit World? Or haunting some house in Europe, if that's where she's from?" Yusuke said out loud.

"She died?" Hiei asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"According to Keiko."

"You're relying on a human's dream? I know you're a lucky fighter who takes chances, but really Yusuke..."

"Well then you explain how a kid with 18th century clothing got here!!" Yusuke yelled as they entered the apartment. The little girl and Keiko were sitting at the table and as soon as the door had opened, the girl had gasped and ran into a different room, hiding herself.

"Good going, Yusuke! Now look what you've done, you scared her!!" Keiko scolded, keeping her voice down. Keiko jogged off towards the direction of where she went.

"'Good going, Yusuke,'" he imitated under his breath. The four went into Yusuke's room.

"Hey, it's ok, little girl! He didn't mean to scare you," she said, as she searched for her. "He's not going to hurt you, really! It's all right..." Keiko opened a closet door and finally found her in the corner of it. "It's ok. Come on," she said holding out her hand again. She hesitated even longer this time, but finally took it and Keiko lead her out back to the table.

"My name is Keiko. What's your name? Or should I just keep calling you little girl?" The boys in the room grew silent as they listened in.

The girl looked towards her left then looked back at Keiko and meekly said "I don't have a name." She had a European accent. Then she looked down at the table with interest.

"You don't have a name? Your mother never gave you one?"

She shook her head.

"Would you like me to give you one?"

The little girl kept her down, but stole a look at Keiko. She didn't say anything.

"How about Kireiko? Do you like that name?"

The little girl blushed and her raised her head and nodded, trying to hide a smile.

"Kireiko it is then!" Keiko said with a smile, glad that progress was being made. "Kireiko, where do you live?"

She looked to her left again. "Italy."

"Wow, you live in Italy? That's a long way from Japan."

Kireiko didn't say anything. Keiko decided to get to the point.

"Kireiko, did you know I've been dreaming about you lately?"

She nodded.

"You...you do?"

She nodded again.

"Do you...Do you know why I've been about you?"

The little girl didn't answer. She looked from side to side.

"Kireiko, do you know why I've been dreaming about you?" Keiko repeated.

Still, she didn't answer. Just then, the door opened, and instead of running away again, Kireiko looked intently at the door swinging open. It's was Atsuko. 

"Oh hey Keiko! Good to see you. Who's the little girl?" She asked, carrying in some groceries. 

"Uh, this is Kireiko. Kireiko, this is Atsuko Urameshi, erm, the scary boy's mom," Keiko tried to explain. Surprisingly, Kireiko got off the chair and ran up to Atsuko. 

"Aww, she's adorable!" Atsuko said, picking her up as she set the groceries down and sat her on the counter. "And just look at that cute dress! You look like a move star!" Kireiko smiled. "Thank you, Madame Urameshi."

"My gosh, she's certainly has manners, doesn't she? You don't sound like you're from around here. Hey, Yusuke, why can't you have manners like her, huh?!" The two could hear laughing coming from Yusuke's room as he whined "MOTHER!!!!" 

"She says she's from Italy," Keiko said, answering her question.

"Italy?! Wow, I've never met someone from another country before. Well, it's very nice to meet you, Kireiko!" She said. Keiko noticed that for some reason Kireiko seemed to be more comfortable around Atsuko. "Keiko, how did you come across such a darling little girl?"

"Um, well, I think she's lost."

"Oh, that's awful, Kireiko! Do you know where your parents are?"

Kireiko pointed at the ceiling.

"You're an orphan?" Keiko asked.

The girl looked to her left again and then nodded at them with a smile.

"That's pretty rough," Atsuko said. "Where do you live? You must live somewhere, considering those adorable clothes you're wearing."

Kireiko didn't answer, but looked at the ground instead.

"Well then you'll just have to stay here!" She announced. Immediately, Yusuke jumped out into the room.

"Are-are you sure that's such a good idea, Mother?!!" He asked, his voice shaking.

"Sure, why not? I doubt this little cutie could cause much harm, she seems so well-mannered. Besides, I've always wanted to know what it'd be like to have a little daughter. What do you say, Kireiko?"

Kireiko looked shyly over at Yusuke, who was still dumbfounded. "I...I'd like that very much, Madame Urameshi."

"It's settled then! And please, call me by my first name without the 'Madame'. There's no need to be so formal," she said. Atsuko picked her up and put her back on the floor.

"Okay," Kireiko answered.

"Looks like Yusuke's got a baby sister!" Kuwabara teased. Yusuke promptly punched his face.

"She is NOT my sister!" He said.

"Of course I'm not," the girl said. She was standing in the doorway of Yusuke's room and looked like she had gathered up all her courage to get that close.

"Now Yusuke, don't be fighting around her or you're gonna make a bad influence on her," Atsuko scolded.

"MOTHER!!! You're acting like she's my little sister!!" Kurama and Kuwabara, although his face go punched, couldn't hold in their laughter. Even Hiei couldn't help but snicker.

"Well from here on in, maybe you should act like she is!" She said. "I've got to go run a few more errands, I'll be back in an hour," she said, more to Kireiko than to anyone else. She nodded at her in understanding. 

As soon as Atsuko closed the door, Yusuke regained his usual attitude and got face to face with Kireiko. "I want to get things straight, ok kid??! I'm not your brother and I'm NOT going to act like one! As far as I'm concerned, you're just renting out a room!! No calling me any other names besides Yusuke, you got that, kid?!" He said. "And no mushy stuff either!" He added.

"Yusuke, what's the matter with you, she's just a little child!" Keiko said. Kireiko held her ground defiantly and yet seemed to be on the verge of running away.

"I won't do anything of the sort, Yusuke," she answered firmly. Yusuke was surprised, but only for a second.

"Good!" And he slammed the door in her face.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Urameshi?!?! Even I wouldn't do that to a little kid!!" Kuwabara said, standing up to give Yusuke a punch of his own.

"For all we know she ISN'T a little kid, she might be, what, 200 years old or somethin!!" Yusuke yelled. 

Suddenly the door burst open and there stood an incredibly pissed off Keiko. Kireiko was no where to be seen. "YUSUKE, YOU JERK!!!!" 

Seeing as there was no way they wanted to make Keiko turn her anger on them, Hiei, Kurama, and Kuwabara snuck out of the room as the slapping fest began. Kurama noticed Kireiko sitting with her back to them behind one of the chairs. She didn't seem to be crying and so Kurama thought to try his luck. He started to walk over to where she sat, but she turned around at hearing his footsteps and got up, trying to hide her face with the chair but still looking out at him. He tried to give her his best smile.

"It's all right, I just want to talk to you," he said. She didn't move as the two watched on with semi-interest. "It's all right, I won't hurt you," he tried again, advancing, but she moved to the right to keep distance between them. Unsure of what to do, he backed away.

"Not exactly good with kids?" Hiei asked.

"Actually, I usually am," he said, trying to figure out what he was doing that was making her so afraid of him.

"I'll bet I could better," Kuwabara said with an idiotic smile.

"Right," Hiei said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

"I could do better than you, I know that much!" He argued. 

"Oh please, you'd probably scare her away with your idiocy."

"And I bet you'd scare her with that dumb third eye, Three-Eyes!"

"Oh yeah?!"

"Yeah!!!"

"Fine. We'll just see who can do better!" Hiei said. He started to venture over to Kireiko only he began to realize he had no idea what he was doing or was going to do. As soon as he got to the table, she began to get on her guard. Thinking that perhaps it would be easier to just read her mind, he tried using his Jagan eye to probe her thoughts. However, he was mystified when he found that he couldn't read it.

"What's the matter, Hiei, the best you can do is stand there??" Kuwabara taunted.

"Grrrr, shut up!" He turned back to the little girl and he sat cross-legged on the floor, his hand on his chin, trying to think. When he noticed movement from the corner of his eye, he saw that the girl was edging just a little bit away from the chair as though in curiosity. Thinking that perhaps this was how it was done, he pretended to still be thinking and looked away. 

Kurama noticed that Kireiko was edging closer to them, though slowly, and began to watch with great interest. Kuwabara didn't say a word.

As Kireiko inched towards Hiei, she held onto the legs of the chairs, as though they were going to protect her. She finally reached him, but Hiei continued to pretend he was deep in thought. She finally let go of the chair leg nearest Hiei and seemed to examine his face with her eyes. Kireiko walked behind Hiei, out of his line of sight. He stayed exactly as he was. 

Suddenly, he could feel a tugging at the back of his head and knew that for some reason she was taking off his bandana! It slipped off his face and she came back around where he could see her. He moved from his position to look straight at her, and she cowered a little as she held the bandana in her hand. She examined his face again and then held out the bandana to him. He took it from her and tied it back around his head. Then he stood up and walked back to the other two boys.

"Ok...That was kinda weird," Kuwabara said quietly as Kireiko continued to stand where she was. Hiei smirked.

"Looks like I win."

"How did you do that, Hiei?" Kurama asked, perplexed.

He shrugged. Hiei looked down and saw Kireiko looking up at him with a curious look in her eye. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Heh heh, hey Yusuke, I think your little sister has a crush on Hiei!!" Kuwabara yelled at the door.

"SHE ISN'T MY SISTER!!!!!!!" Came the answer, along with the sound of a smack.

"Hn," Hiei said and looked away from her. Kurama bent down to try to talk to her again, but as he did so, she tried to hid behind Hiei, who tried to look behind him without moving his legs, seeing as she was holding onto one of them.

"Please, don't be alarmed," he said, trying to reassure her. She came out a little from behind Hiei. Suddenly, she seemed to realize something and ran as quickly as she could towards the front door. "Wait, stop, where are you going?!" Kurama shouted as she ran after her, considering the door was unlocked. Kuwabara followed, and Hiei, who looked curiously puzzled by this sudden change of action, followed as well as soon as the door to Yusuke's room flew open and Keiko came out, Yusuke limping a little behind.

"Hiei, wait, what's going?!" She asked, but he was gone before he could answer. "Come on, Yusuke!" She said, running to catch up with everyone else who had run out the door. But Yusuke remained in the apartment. That is until he felt like he was being watched again and could have sworn that someone had laughed evilly in the other room.

Thought you all deserved a nice long chapter, considering I haven't written in a while. Been trying to get some money with another story I'm writing *grins* Need...money... 


	4. The trip to someplace new

Hello again my fellow YYH fans!!

Yusuke- How many times do we have to do this?

Everyone has to do them once so long as chapters are added.

Yusuke- -_-() She doesn't own us. So there!

That's great, Yusuke. *sweatdrop* 

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Broken

By Ryoken

"Kireiko, wait!!" Kurama shouted down the hall. He couldn't see her, but assumed she had turned the corner. He did the same, only to find that he couldn't find her anywhere in his view. The elevator was on the other side of the apartments. Kurama stopped dead in his tracks only to have Kuwabara and Hiei run into him, causing him and the other two to fall to the ground on their faces.

"Hey, why'd you stop, Kurama??" Kuwabara asked.

"I'll tell you if you'd kindly get off of my back," he replied calmly. 

"Sure, once the shrimp gets off MY back!" 

"What are you talking about, I'm not even touching you anymore, idiot," Hiei said from behind. 

"Oh." He got up and helped Kurama up as well.

"I stopped because Kireiko disappeared," Kurama said after he got to his feet.

"Disappeared??" Hiei and Kuwabara said, along with Keiko and Yusuke who had joined them.

"I turned the corner and I couldn't see her anymore. She may have gone into one of the other apartments, but I'm sure I would've heard a door opening and closing, and none of the doors here are open," he explained. 

"Well, she's got to be around here some place. She couldn't have just walked through a wall, right?" Yusuke said carelessly. Keiko's eyes widened with realization.

"Keiko, what's the matter?" Kuwabara asked, noticing her fright.

"I think...I think maybe...she...can..." Keiko said, on the verge of passing out.

"WHAT?!?!!?" The four said.

"Keiko, what the hell are you saying?!?" Yusuke said, grabbing her shoulders.

"What if...what if she's a ghost or something?!" Keiko said.

"Well, that does make some sense, only ghosts can't be seen. Yusuke would know that from personal experience, correct?" Kurama inquired.

"Yeah. No one could see me, but if someone was asleep, I could enter their bodies and control 'em for a little while," Yusuke noted. "But that still doesn't explain how she'd be able to walk through a wall, if she even did."

"That's true, it doesn't. Perhaps Koenma would know more about something like this, or Botan," Kurama suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Yusuke said. Suddenly, Yusuke turned around to face the other direction of the hall.

"What is it, Yusuke? Did you see her?" Keiko asked.

"No...But it feels like someone's watching us. Can't you feel it?" He asked.

"No. You sure you're feelin ok, Urameshi?" Kuwabara said.

"Yeah, I'm fine! 'Cept for the being watched part...I could've sworn I heard someone laugh back in the apartment and I thought I saw someone out of the corner of my eye..." Yusuke scratched his head in thought. Maybe I'm going crazy... He thought.

"That's odd..." Kurama remarked. "We'd better see Koenma."

Koenma groaned. "I still haven't found much of anything on this demon. It doesn't make much sense, it's like she just dropped out of our record books!"

"Haven't you found anything at all?" Kurama asked through the communication mirror (they'd gotten a replacement).

"Nothing we don't know already."

"What about what happened earlier. How would you explain something like that?" Kurama asked.

"I wouldn't know. Botan wouldn't either. It defies all logic, I'd really like to have met this Kireiko. Or, if not me, then at least Botan." Koenma sighed again. "And you haven't been able to even see one of those black-hooded cultists?"

Kurama shook his head. "It's as though they all got up and left at the exact same time."

"This is awful! We've got no good leads except that they're probably somewhere in Europe and who the heck knows where!!"

"What's going on, you guys?" Keiko asked in the background.

"Huh? Oh, there's these weirdos trying to bring some sort of demon into the human world and we think they're somewhere in Europe. Hey, Keiko, you said that little girl was from your dream, right? From what I heard, it seems like that girl and these freaks could be related."

"Yeah. When I talked to her, she said was from Italy. Maybe that's where they are?" She suggested.

"That does narrow it down a bit, but where in Italy? That could easily be anywhere," Koenma said, now donning his teenager form as Keiko came onto the screen.

"In my dream, they were in some sort of dark tunnels. Like they were underground...Maybe some sort of tomb?"

"That sounds like a catacomb!" Koenma exclaimed. "What else was in the catacomb, Keiko?"

"Well, there were a lot of skulls and bones. Most of the ones I saw...were in one room that was lighted by candles. They were all over, but it looked like someone had tried to decorate the room with them," Keiko shivered, recalling the creepily placed bone structures. "There can't be very many cities that have something like that, right?"

"No, there aren't. None like that. In fact, there's only one city in Italy that's even close to what you've described..."

And so the Yu Yu Hakusho team, consisting of Keiko, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Yusuke, traveled through Spirit World to Rome, Italy. 

"Wow, this place is so amazing, isn't it, Yusuke?" Keiko said as she looked at the Coliseum.

"Remember, Keiko, that we're not here on vacation," Kurama said.

Keiko took a face of seriousness. "Right."

Yusuke took a little tour guide map. "Well, then, shall we start lookin, or what?" He looked the map. "There's a ton of entrances to this place! I don't even know which one to start at!"

"How many are there, exactly?" Kuwabara asked.

"There must be at least fifteen of them!!"

"That's a lot," Keiko noted unhappily. "Maybe we should split up and take them two at a time?"

"I don't know...We don't know our way around the catacombs, let alone the city. These guys are bad news...I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to have only two fighters to a group, don't forget that that lady could be around here too," Yusuke said.

"You mean the one we couldn't detect?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah, that one. If we split up, she could probably just pick us off one at a time without a sound. For now, let's just stick together," Yusuke finalized.

"Agreed. Now, which entrance should we start off with?"

"The ones closest to us would probably be the best choice," Yusuke suggested. Yusuke looked at the map. "It says here that the nearest entrance should be underneath a...bridge?" Yusuke stopped and turned the map sideways. Then he turned it the other way and scratched his head.

"Here, let me see it," Kurama said, taking the map. Yusuke pointed to the location and Kurama screwed up his face in thought. The map talked about the location in a side-panel, but where it was supposed to be on the map, it pointed to a building instead of a bridge. 

"Anyone know how to speak Italian?" Yusuke asked with a grin.

"Well, let's just go to the location and see what we can find," Hiei said.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Kurama agreed. The five walked along the streets, following the map as best as possible. They reached the spot and saw a fence that looked a little out of place. They went to it and saw that they were several stories up from a different road, and were obviously on top of the specified bridge.

"Ok, so now how do we get down there?" Kuwabara asked.

"Why don't you just jump down?" Hiei said as he walked towards the way they came, looking for a side street to go down. "Maybe you can find an entrance down there as you flatten so we can get down there safely."

"HEY! Why we just throw you over the fence then?!" Kuwabara said.

"Hn, like you'd be able to get me anyways," he retorted.

"Now now, children!" Yusuke said.

"Um, guys, I found something," Keiko said from up the street. They rushed to her and saw that she had found the way down. 

They reached the underside of the bridge and instead of there being the other side of the bridge, it was walled up with bricks with the exception of a hallway big enough for one person at a time to fit through. Yusuke went in first, followed closely by Keiko, then Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei. They soon emerged in a small room where there was a desk and a person sitting behind it. There were several other people there, some of which looked like tourists, others who wore gray cloaks and had unlit lanterns in their hands. There was another person sitting beside the person at the desk. There was a name plaque on the space where the person beside the other person was sitting. It read: Translator. And underneath that was the name Rita Kindle. Yusuke and the gang went up to the translator.

"Ah, hello! Welcome to the Rome Catacombs!" She said from the desk. "I'm the translator for foreign tourists. Would you like to go on a tour of the catacombs?"

"Uh, yeah," Yusuke said.

"All right then," she talked to the guy beside her and they exchanged money. She then called over one of the people in the gray cloaks named Suzie. "Suzie here will be your tour guide. Don't loose sight of her or you might get lost and not all of these tunnels have been mapped yet," she added. The tour guide lead them into the tunnels, speaking in rapid Italian, which none of them understood except Kurama, who didn't bother to translate unless it seemed important. 

During the middle of the tour, the guide stopped and turned around, like she did every so often, and a strange look crept over her. She said something concerned in Italian, which Kurama replied to in question. She pointed behind them rambling on again, only there was nothing there. Kurama looked stunned.

"What did she say, Kurama?" Keiko asked.

"She asked where our sixth person went and I asked her who. She pointed behind us and told me that there was a little girl behind us, but that she's gone now..."

Everyone stared blankly at them. The tour guide said something and hurried along, the others trying to follow behind.

"Hey guys, maybe we should try to find these guys on our own? I mean, I doubt if the tour guides would actually go anywhere near these cultists, and I'm sure the cultists wouldn't be performing any rituals near the tour guide route," Yusuke said.

"That's true, but what if we get lost? What then?" Kurama said.

"I don't know...Maybe we could leave some sort of trail?"

"Of what?" Keiko said.

"Maybe one of us could leave like a small string of spirit energy?" Yusuke suggested.

"Hn, for once Yusuke uses his brain instead of his luck," Hiei said.

"Hey! I'll have you know-"

"Shhhh!" Keiko said.

"What is it?" Yusuke and the others said.

"If you'll be quiet, maybe we can hear something," she said.

They remained silent for a while, but heard nothing except their own footsteps and the Italian words of the guide. Suddenly, clearly, they heard a giggle. They stopped dead in their tracks, as did the tour guide. She had heard it too. The giggle had echoed through the treacherous tunnels. 

Yusuke and the others looked in every possible direction that the sound could've come from, but saw nothing. The giggle of a young child came again, a little louder this time, and the tour guide suddenly ran off, carrying the only means of possibly returning to the surface with her. The five were left standing in the dark until the fire youkai lit the halls with a flame in his hand. Keiko let out a small shriek as her legs gave out beneath her and she was eye-level with Kireiko. She was smiling.

"Kireiko! We finally found you!" Kurama said. "How did you get all the way here??"

Kireiko said nothing, but she smiled at everyone in turn. Suddenly, she seemed as though she had remembered something, and she turned around and looked up.

"Something's up," Hiei said, and all could see that his Jagan was glowing brightly under his headband. Kireiko took off unexpectedly, but at a pace that they could all keep up with. They followed suite.

Kireiko seemed to be leading them deeper and deeper into the catacombs of Rome, twisting and turning, going up and down stairs, but in a manner that told the team that she knew exactly where she was going. After a certain abrupt turn, Kireiko vanished, and a trace couldn't be found of her anywhere. Now the team was horribly lost in the catacombs, and yet not even close to the heart of the catacombs.

Well done, little one. Now, if you would be as so kind as to watch over those new strangers...

Kireiko nodded in affirmation, and vanished out of sight.

Everything is going as perfect as it possibly can. Although these strange humans and apparitions could be a threat, now that they are hopelessly loss in the maze of the catacombs, they'll pose no threat until we have need of them. As for those others, we must know just why they are here and who's side they are on.

"Yes, Master. I'm sure they pose no threat either if they're anything like the intruders," a woman in a black robe said.

We must take no chances. The alignment of the stars and celestial beings such as on a night like this only comes every 200 years. I've been waiting patient and hungry for far too long to fail once more. The child will not fail me, she knows what will happen if she does.

"Of course, Master. And should something happen, your loyal servants will take care of them."

Of course...

A laughter that wouldn't need the help of the hallways to echo, rang out in the halls and tunnels, and reached the Urameshi team's ears.

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Oooo, so very scary, ne? ^_^

Hiei- No it isn't.

-_- Do not make me use the mallet of doom on you, Hiei... Anywho, who are these new intruders that...that person talked about?!?! ^^' Guess you'll just have to wait to find out!!


End file.
